Dark Companion
by Alabaster86
Summary: Once children come into the picture, especially Azula, Ozai changes and Ursa is afraid.


**Dark Companion***

The soft padding of tiny feet on the area rug awakened Ursa. Eight and a half months pregnant, she struggled to move in the huge bed. Beside her, Ozai groaned before settling back down into his pillow. Through heavy lidded, sleepy eyes the young woman spied her two year old son, Zuko. Pressing a finger to her lips, she cautioned him to keep quiet. Daddy needed his sleep. She needed hers even worse, but somehow, mothers were always on call.

She heaved herself up from the bed, careful not to awaken her husband, cringing when the mattress shifted because of her efforts, before taking Zuko's hand and leading him from the room. Once out in the hallway, she whispered words of comfort to the toddler. Two guards stood straight and still outside the massive double doors, while others paced the residential wing of the palace. None acknowledged the presence of Ursa and Zuko but eyes followed their route.

"Everything is all right, Zuko. Did you have a scary dream?" It happened on occasion. Sometimes the nightmares were vivid, lurid things that stayed with the toddler for days.

He nodded, sticking a thumb into his mouth and sucking. Ozai hated when he did that. Gently, Ursa pulled the thumb out before running a hand through the thick brown hair. She knelt before him then, examining his sweet face. Tear tracks stained his cheeks. She rubbed at them gently before kissing him.

"Let's get you back to bed. I'll stay until you're asleep."

True to her word, she tucked little Zuko back under the covers and stroked his forehead. She ran fingers along his sides, tickling the boy until he giggled and emotion filled gold eyes shimmered with joy. He stared at her huge belly and seemed to ponder its meaning. Ursa and Ozai_ too_ had told him many times that soon he would have a tiny brother or sister. But how the bump in his mother's stomach would become a baby, he couldn't comprehend. His world was changing and would change more. That he knew. And that he feared.

Right now, his mommy loved him. He was the centre of her world. Daddy loved him too but differently. He didn't comfort and nurture so much as expect and wait and occasionally encourage. The most affection he offered was the occasional pat on the head or touch to the shoulder. Still, Zuko adored the man and Ursa, she just hoped that he was doing his best, trying the best he knew how to be a good father.

Where would the new baby fit? Would she still love him after it was born? These worries, in little boy form, flitted through his mind. But Momma was there with him now and she was singing his favorite song and she smiled down at him and in that moment, all was right with his tiny universe.

~~~~0000~~~~

Azula burst into the world, two years and four months after Zuko arrived. Healthy and pink and squalling, she took to her mother's breast immediately, little fists clenched and waving about. She meant business. She took what she needed without any thought, like babies do. But that method, that trait, stuck with her past babyhood, into toddlerhood and girlhood. In a few quick years, she left her older brother behind.

She walked earlier, talked earlier, displayed her firebending earlier. Azula's tutors raved about the keenness of her intellect. Zuko loved her still and tried to be the best big brother he could. But envy crept its way into the little boy's heart. Why was everything so easy for her? Why did _he_ have to struggle? Why did father look at her with pride while he looked at Zuko with disappointment? It wasn't fair. And it hurt.

"He can see, Ozai. Zuko knows that you're displeased."

"Then perhaps he'll try harder and improve."

Ursa and Ozai had had this discussion before, many times in fact. Every time Zuko's hopeful expression crumbled, snuffed out like a lantern beneath Ozai's skilled hands, she protested.

"You know how hard he works. A father's job is to support his children, not make them feel unworthy." She started at the sudden rage in her husband's eyes.

"And what is a mother's job then; to coddle her children, make them helpless and dependent and soft?" He scoffed. 'We're royals, Ursa. Iroh is off somewhere grieving Lu Ten. He's not fit to be the next Fire Lord. I am and I will be. And I will continue the job my ancestors began; conquering the inferior nations of this world. Then I will rule everything, not just the Fire Nation. My children need to help me accomplish those goals. Right now, Zuko is good for nothing but sulking in the corner or running to you, tears in his eyes. Azula, on the other hand, she will be a service to me one day soon. She is ambitious and strives for perfection and wants to please me." He smirked. "And her bending, well it could be extraordinary, not to mention her actual strategy skills." He placed a finger on his chin and seemed lost in thought for a moment, contemplating his daughter and what she could accomplish for him.

_She is her father's daughter._

Ursa was an intelligent woman. She'd noticed changes in Ozai over the past few years, subtle changes. His interest in the war and in ruling the nation had increased. Out from under Iroh's large and imposing and brilliant shadow, it was his time to shine. And he intended to take advantage.

"They're children, Ozai, not things for you to use. Zuko has much to offer as does Azula. They're simply different."

"Azula frightens you; I can see _that_. You prefer the boy. Don't preach to me about parenting." He waved her aside. In his mind the conversation was over.

"Azula needs a firm hand. She needs to learn empathy and compassion. She's a little tyrant, Ozai. I shudder to think of her years from now should you allow her to continue down the destructive path that you've laid out for her. Our daughter, Ozai, our precious girl…the way she talks, the way she thinks…you're right, it scares me._ She_ scares me."

Prince Ozai laughed then, loud and harsh and long and Ursa trembled. She hugged herself as the sound echoed in their bedchamber. The woman loved her husband but nowadays she rarely liked him. It broke her heart, this distance between them, a widening gulf that nothing could span. Often, when Ozai had dropped into slumber, Ursa wondered how everything would play out, how this strange little family of theirs would survive.

Someone else slept in their marriage bed now, Ozai's dark companion. Yes, Ursa was afraid.

~~~~0000~~~~

***From the line "He let in a dark companion that orbited between us." Tori Amos, 'Fearlessness' from "Night of Hunters" **

**The line struck me and I had to use it somehow.**


End file.
